he has helped advise president obama on some of his key foreign policy decisions, including drawing down the troops in afghanistan, ending the war in iraq, and also responding to some of the natural disasters that have occurred in recent years, including haiti, and japan. he is someone who has built up a lot of trust here in the white house. you heard that today when president obama talked about him, talked about how much he meant to the staffers here. we should also mention he was pictured in the situation room during the raid on osama bin laden, so this is certainly someone who is very close to the president and will be a key figure moving forward with this white house. andrea. >> thank you so much, kristen welker. david gregory here and pete williams joining us as well. autowe've seen good chiefs of staff and bad. some of the best. jim bakker, ken duberstein, leon panetta in times of trouble. >> howard baker certainly rescuing the ronald reagan second term from don regan, a bad chief of staff by all accounts. what is the pluses and minuses of denis mcdonough. he knows the president so